AMD officially launches its new 7th generation A-series "Bristol Ridge" APUs
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AMD officially launches its new 7th generation A-series "Bristol Ridge" APUs
AMD has officially launched its 7th generation A-series “Bristol Ridge” APUs, and both mainstream and gaming desktop PCs, powered by these APUs, are available worldwide now. For a start, HP and Lenovo are first to offer such systems, with more OEM designs to follow.
The AMD A-series “Bristol Ridge” APUs were first announced in June this year; however, what’s interesting about the latest announcement is the introduction of the AM4 socket, which will unify both CPUs and APUs offerings from the company. As a result, both upcoming Zen-core based “Summit Ridge” CPUs and the latest Excavator-based APUs will share the same processor socket. The most powerful APU in the Bristol Ridge lineup is the quad-core A12-9800, which operates with a base clock of 3.8GHz, and a boost clock speed of up to 4.2GHz. It has a TDP rating of 65W. Its “E” variant operates at lower clock speeds, with a power rating of 35W TDP. There’s also a non-APU processor, named Althon X4 950, and this quad-core processor operates at 3.4GHz clock speed, up to a theoretical maximum of 4.2GHz. Its TDP is rated at 65W.
In addition, AMD also took the opportunity to showcase the AM4 platform, which is powered by the Promontory chipset stack, the codename for all chipsets powering all AM4-based motherboards. The new platform supports the following features, which are essential to any modern desktop system.
- DDR4 RAM
- PCIe Gen 3
- USB 3.1 Gen 2
- NVMe
- SATA Express
There are four chipsets on the AM4 platform; currently, there are three available, the B350 for the mainstream market segment, and the A320 for the essential market segment. The A300 is meant for small form factor systems. The yet-to-be-announced chipset will be targeting the enthusiasts. Click here for AMD’s official press release.
